Dossier : « À propos des relations natures/sociétés » − The shift toward social-ecological systems perspectives: insights into the human-nature relationship

Schoon, Michael; Leeuw, Sander van der

doi:10.1051/nss/2015034

Cited by 103 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The ecological survey conducted by WMRT included geology, hydrology, soils, plants, wildlife, climate, and landscape-scale systems (WMRT 1973a). The Woodlands' survey followed a process described by McHarg in his writings, work, and speeches: ecological surveys focused on the biophysical characteristics of a site or region, which was typical of most considerations of ecological systems of that era (Partelow and Winkler 2016;Preiser et al 2018;Schoon and van der Leeuw 2015).…”

Section: Mcharg's Ecological Survey and Its Relationship To Texas Ecomentioning

confidence: 99%

Building and innovating upon McHarg’s ecological survey: the Texas case

Lieberknecht

2019

Socio Ecol Pract Res

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Ian McHarg provided critical direction toward Texas's urban settlement planning during the 1970s, an era of transformation and vision, in which he developed the Lake Austin Growth Management Plan and a plan for The Woodlands. Texas continues to undergo dramatic changes, with a projected doubling of population by 2050 and escalation of extreme weather events. In response, the University of Texas at Austin recently launched Planet Texas 2050 (PT2050), a decade-long grand challenge research program focused on developing knowledge and strategies needed to plan for resilience in the face of climate and population change. This article investigates the following research question: How does Planet Texas 2050 build and innovate upon McHarg's ecological survey method for the purpose of planning a resilient Texas? I analyze McHarg's ecological survey method and use the examples from The Woodlands and Planet Texas 2050 to explore the development of a socio-ecological survey. This investigation identifies several findings relevant for research and practice. It is possible that earlier and better integration of social data into The Woodlands' ecological survey may have helped the planning team anticipate objections which influenced the abandonment of ecological planning for the second phase of The Woodlands' development, resulting in a loss of ecosystem services. Almost 50 years later, Planet Texas 2050 has attempted to build a dynamic socio-ecological survey that integrates diverse socio-ecological data, co-produces socio-ecological knowledge with the public, and incorporates socio-ecological data from the past. Although PT2050 may fall short of its ambitious goal to ensure a resilient Texas by mid-century, growing system complexity and socio-ecological change ensure that surveys, such as McHarg's ecological survey and Planet Texas 2050s socio-ecological survey, will remain a key component of future resilience planning.

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Section: Mcharg's Ecological Survey and Its Relationship To Texas Ecomentioning

confidence: 99%

Building and innovating upon McHarg’s ecological survey: the Texas case

Lieberknecht

2019

Socio Ecol Pract Res

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“…There is increasing recognition that to achieve long‐term sustainability, reductionist scientific approaches are inadequate, and an increased understanding of the linkages between social and ecological systems is required (Cumming et al, ). This paradigm shift is evident from calls for improved integration of human dimensions (social processes) into the conservation and management of riverine landscapes (e.g., Dunham et al, ) and the rapid growth in research on social‐ecological systems (Schoon & Van der Leeuw, ). This is further reflected by the increasing incorporation of such approaches in management and legislation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…processes) into the conservation and management of riverine landscapes (e.g., Dunham et al, 2018) and the rapid growth in research on social-ecological systems (Schoon & Van der Leeuw, 2015). This is further reflected by the increasing incorporation of such approaches Rivers shape and are in turn shaped by human societies (Parsons et al, 2017)-they are social-ecological systems.…”

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confidence: 99%

Integrating multiple aquatic values: Perspectives and a collaborative future for river science

Pingram

Price

Thoms

2019

River Research & Apps

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The study and management of rivers have undergone a metamorphosis over the last four decades, transitioning from individual sub‐disciplines towards interdisciplinary approaches and an increased focus on viewing riverine landscapes as social‐ecological systems. Within this context, there is a growing emphasis on the need to take resilience‐based approaches to living with rivers in a sustainable way that maximises public security, infrastructure protection, and economic, ecological, and cultural benefits and values. The concept of viewing rivers as social‐ecological systems is gaining traction in science and management discourse; however, the idea is not new, and indigenous knowledge systems consistently place humans within the natural world. Integrating environmental knowledge, in its various forms, plays a key role in understanding issues and developing solutions for freshwater managers, especially in the context of rivers as social‐ecological systems. The 5th Biennial Symposium of the International Society for River Science conference, themed “Integrating Multiple Aquatic Values,” provided a forum for sharing environmental knowledge underpinning freshwater management critical for achieving multiple goals. The papers in this special issue highlight the fundamental properties of rivers as social‐ecological systems and the attempts to integrate multiple values concerned with rivers and their landscapes. From a series of case studies, a set of challenges and opportunities emerge that have the potential to further the management and research of rivers as social‐ecological systems and integrate multiple aquatic values. Key to this is acknowledging and respecting the value that indigenous worldviews and knowledge bring. We also echo the call of other authors that if the overall goals are that rivers, societies, and their interactions are to result in positive social and ecological outcomes for people and rivers, then integrating and respecting multiple values and knowledge systems will be required.

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“…The complexity of each of these fields coupled with an additional layer of complexity introduced by the interactions between sociological/political systems and natural systems can result in highly complex system dynamics, i.e., ones that are stiff, nonlinear, and possess feedback loops. For example, Schoon and Van der Leeuw [2] note that systems composed of interacting sociological and ecological subsystems are quick to change and rarely stay in equilibrium for long. Further, many state variables are needed to describe both the decision making processes of the relevant social groups, and the functioning of the involved ecosystem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing political-ecological theory: The need for Many-Task Computing

Haas

2019

Preprint

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8Models of political-ecological systems can inform policies for managing ecosystems that 9 contain endangered species. One way to increase the credibility of these models is to 10 subject them to a rigorous suite of data-based statistical assessments. Doing so involves 11 statistically estimating the model's parameters, computing confidence intervals for these 12 parameters, determining the model's prediction error rate, and assessing its sensitivity to 13 parameter misspecification. 14 Here, these statistical algorithms along with a method for constructing politically fea-15 sible policies from a statistically fitted model, are coded as JavaSpaces TM programs that 16 run as compute jobs on either supercomputers or a collection of in-house workstations. 17 Several new algorithms for implementing such jobs in distributed computing environments 18 are described. 19 This downloadable code is used to compute each job's output for the management 20 challenge of conserving the East African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). This case study shows 21 that the proposed suite of statistical tools can be run on a supercomputer to establish the 22 credibility of a managerially-relevant model of a political-ecological system that contains 23 one or more endangered species. This demonstration means that the new standard of 24 credibility that any political-ecological model needs to meet before being used to inform 25 ecosystem management decisions, is the one given herein. 26 1 27 Keywords: social-ecological systems; ecosystem policymaking; agent-based modeling; 28 high performance computing; sensitivity analysis; statistical estimation of large models 29 1 Introduction 30There is a need to acknowledge the complexity of political-ecological systems and the signif-31 icant challenges to building theories of them [1]. Such systems lie at the interface between 32 social/political science and ecology. The complexity of each of these fields coupled with an 33 additional layer of complexity introduced by the interactions between sociological/political 34 systems and natural systems can result in highly complex system dynamics, i.e., ones that 35 are stiff, nonlinear, and possess feedback loops. For example, Schoon and Van der Leeuw [2] 36 note that systems composed of interacting sociological and ecological subsystems are quick 37 to change and rarely stay in equilibrium for long. Further, many state variables are needed 38 to describe both the decision making processes of the relevant social groups, and the func-39 tioning of the involved ecosystem. A political-ecological system is also referred to as a 40 socio-ecological system or social-ecological system (e.g., see [3]). The former term is em-41 phasized herein because those political actions and processes that drive social movements 42 are often initiated by groups seeking to gain increased political power [4]. Building such 43 models is more than an academic exercise. Indeed, the alarming decline in the planet's 44 biodiversity [5], creates a crucial need for credible politi...

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Dossier : « À propos des relations natures/sociétés » − The shift toward social-ecological systems perspectives: insights into the human-nature relationship

Cited by 103 publications

References 47 publications

Building and innovating upon McHarg’s ecological survey: the Texas case

Building and innovating upon McHarg’s ecological survey: the Texas case

Integrating multiple aquatic values: Perspectives and a collaborative future for river science

Developing political-ecological theory: The need for Many-Task Computing

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